Elemental
An elemental is a creature that can be encountered in the ''Spelljammer'' campaign setting. Elemental, General Information (2nd Edition) Elementals are sentient beings that can possess bodies made of one of the four basic elements that make up the Prime Material plane – air, earth, fire, or water. They normally reside on an elemental Inner Plane and will only be encountered on the Prime Material plane if they are summoned by magical means. (See the Manual of the Planes for more information on the nature of the various elemental planes.) Each elemental must adopt a shell in the Prime Material composed of the basic element it represents, and once this shell is destroyed, the elemental will return to its native plane. While there are many more powerful and more intelligent residents of the elemental planes, the common elemental is the easiest to contact, and therefore the most frequently summoned. Their magical nature gives elementals great protection from attacks on the Prime Material plane. Elementals are not harmed by any nonmagical weapons or magical weapons of less than +2 bonus. Creatures with under four Hit Dice and without any magical abilities cannot harm an elemental either. (Magical abilities include such characteristics as breath weapons, poisons, paralysis, or even being immune to normal weapon attacks.) Orcs, for example, are powerless against a conjured elemental unless one happens to possess a weapon with +2 or better bonus to hit. Though elementals do enjoy protection from many nonmagical attacks in the Prime Material plane, like all extraplanar and conjured creatures, elementals are affected by protection from evil spells. An elemental cannot strike a creature protected by this spell and must recoil from the spell's boundaries. However, the elemental can attack creatures protected by the spell as long as it doesn't touch them. For example, a fire elemental could set the ground on fire around the creature and wait for the blaze to spread. Each of the four types of common elemental has its own particular strengths and weaknesses, attack modes and method of movement, depending on its plane of origin. These will be covered individually, by elemental type, in the next few pages. All common elementals share one major characteristic, however. They are basically stupid. This low intelligence makes it difficult for the elemental to resist a magical summons. But even the common elemental is bright enough to know it does not like being taken off of its home plane and held in the Prime Material plane. Summoning an Elemental There are three basic ways to call an elemental to this plane, and the strength of the conjured elemental depends on the method used to summon it: Obviously, the type of wizard or priest spell used to contact an elemental will greatly effect the size of the creature on this plane. (See the Player's Handbook for specifics.) Also, a conjured elemental's height (in feet) is equal to its Hit Dice, so the method of summoning an elemental to the Prime Material Plane will also determine its size. Each individual's use of any spell, staff, or device in contacting the elemental planes produces a unique call. This unique summons will only be answered by the inhabitants of a particular plane once per day. Therefore, each of the methods of summoning elementals – spell, device, and staff – can be used by one person to call only one of any specific type of common elemental per day. If a staff is used four times in one day, for example, all four types of elementals must be called once. The only exception to this is a character using more than one method to call elementals. Then, the conjurer can call a number of elementals of the same type equal to the number of methods he or she uses. This means a person with a device and a staff can summon two earth elementals. However, a person with two staffs can still summon only one elemental of any specific type in one day. Controlling an Elemental Because the elemental will be furious at being summoned to this plane, concentration in conjuring the creature is vital. In calling an elemental, a person must remain perfectly still and focus all of his attention on controlling the being. Any distraction to the summoner, either mental or physical, will result in a failure to control the elemental when it arrives on the Prime Material Plane. Elementals that are uncontrolled and acting upon their own desires are called free-willed. If the party is lucky, a free-willed elemental will immediately return to its plane. However, this occurs only 25% of the time. In most cases (75% of the time), an uncontrolled elemental will immediately attack the person or party who conjured it, also destroying anything that stands between it and its enemies. There is no way to gain control of the elemental once it is lost, and there is nothing the objects of the elemental's wrath can do but defend themselves. The elemental's intense dislike of being away from its home plane is the only safeguard those conjuring an elemental can rely upon if the elemental runs wild. Because remaining on the Prime Material Plane is painful to any common elemental, the uncontrolled elemental will always return to its plane of origin three turns after control is lost, whether it has destroyed the creatures responsible for calling it away from its elemental abode or not. There is always a 5% chance per round that an elemental is in the Prime Material (beginning with the second round) that the creature will break control and attack the person who summoned it. Also, if a person is wounded, killed, or loses concentration while controlling an elemental, the creature will become free-willed. The elemental will first attack the person who summoned it and then destroy any living thing it can find during the three turns after control is lost. The creature will then return to its home in the Inner Planes. A free-willed elemental can be sent to its home plane if a dismissal spell is cast upon it, but there is only a 50% chance of success for the spell in this situation. A successfully controlled elemental will stay on the Prime Material only for the duration of the spell that summoned it, and it can be controlled from a distance up to 30 yards per level of the person who summoned it. If under control, an elemental can be dismissed by the summoner when its task is complete. Stealing Control of an Elemental Control of a conjured elemental can be stolen from the person who summoned it by casting dispel magic specifically at the magical control over the creature (not the elemental itself or the person controlling it). Most of the normal rules for dispelling magic apply (see the Player's Handbook p. 148). However, when dealing with control over an elemental, a roll of 20 by the person attempting the spell means that all control has been dispelled and the creature is now free-willed. If control of the elemental is stolen, the creature will follow the wishes of the new person controlling it as if he or she summoned it in the first place. If the dispel magic fails, the elemental will immediately be strengthened to its maximum 8 hit points per die and the conjurer's ability to control the elemental will be greatly enhanced, making any new attempts to steal control of the creature impossible. Also, the elemental will recognize the person who sought to take control of its will as a threat. If the person currently guiding the creature loses control, the elemental will immediately attack the person who attempted to steal control of its will – even before attacking the person who first summoned it. 2nd Edition Stats Air Elemental Description Air elementals can be conjured in any area of open air where gusts of wind are present. The common air elemental appears as an amorphous, shifting cloud when it answers its summons to the Prime Material plane. They rarely speak, but their language can be heard in the high-pitched shriek of a tornado or the low moan of a midnight storm. Combat While air elementals are not readily tangible to the inhabitants of planes other than its own, they can strike an opponent with a strong, focused blast of air that, like a giant, invisible fist, does 2-20 points of damage. The extremely rapid rate at which these creatures can move make them very useful on vast battlefields or in extended aerial combat. In fact, the air elemental's mastery of its natural element gives it a strong advantage in combat above the ground. In aerial battles, they gain a +1 to hit and a +4 to the damage they inflict. The most feared power of an air elemental is its ability to form a whirlwind upon command. Using this form, the air elemental appears as a truncated, reversed cone with a 10 foot bottom diameter and 30 foot top diameter. The height of the whirlwind depends on the Hit Dice of the elemental. An air elemental of 8 Hit Dice will produce a whirlwind standing 40 feet tall; a 12 Hit Dice elemental produces a whirlwind standing 60 feet tall; and a 16 Hit Dice elemental produces a whirlwind standing 80 feet tall. It takes one full turn to form and dissipate this cone. This whirlwind lasts for one melee round, sweeps away and kills all creatures under 3 Hit Dice in the area of its cone, and does 2-16 points of damage to all creatures it fails to kill outright. If, because of overhead obstructions, the whirlwind fails to reach its full height, it can only sweep up creatures under 2 Hit Dice and do 1-8 points of damage to all others in its cone. Earth Elemental Description Earth elementals can be conjured in any area of earth or stone. This type of common elemental appears on the Prime Material plane as a very large humanoid made of whatever types of dirt, stones, precious metals, and gems it was conjured from. It has a cold, expressionless face, and its two eyes sparkle like brilliant, multifaceted gems. Though it has a mouth-like opening in its face, an earth elemental will rarely speak. Their voices can be heard in the silence of deep tunnels, the rumblings of earthquakes, and the grinding of stone on stone. Though earth elementals travel very slowly, they are relentless in the fulfillment of their appointed tasks. An earth elemental can travel through solid ground or stone with no penalty to movement or dexterity. However, these elementals cannot travel through water: they must either go around the body of water in their path or go under it, traveling in the ground. Earth elementals prefer the latter as it keeps them moving, more or less, in a straight line toward their goal. Combat Earth elementals will always try to fight on the ground and will only rarely be tricked into giving up that advantage. Because of their close alliance to the rock and earth, these elementals do 4-32 points of damage (4d8) whenever they strike a creature that rests on the ground. Against constructions with foundations in earth or stone, earth elementals do great damage, making them extremely useful for armies sieging a fortification. For example, a reinforced door, which might require a few rounds to shatter using conventional methods, can be smashed with ease by an earth elemental. They can even level a small cottage in a few rounds. An earth elemental's effectiveness against creatures in the air or water is limited; the damage done by the elemental's fists on airborne or waterborne targets is lessened by 2 points per die (to a minimum of 1 point of damage per die). Fire Elemental Description Fire elementals can be conjured in any area containing a large open flame. To provide a fire elemental with an adequate shell of Prime Material flame, a fire built to house an elemental should have a diameter of at least six feet and reach a minimum of four feet into the air. On the Prime Material Plane, a fire elemental appears as a tall sheet of flame. The fire elemental will always appear to have two armlike appendages, one on each side of its body. These arms seem to flicker back into the creature's flaming body, only to spring out from its sides seconds later. The only facial features of a fire elemental are two large glowing patches of brilliant blue fire, which seem to function as eyes for the elemental. Like all common elementals, fire elementals rarely speak on the Prime Material plane, though their voices can be heard in the crackle and hiss of a large fire. Combat Because they resent being conjured to this plane, fire elementals are fierce opponents who will attack their enemies directly and savagely, taking what joy they can in burning the weak creatures and objects of the Prime Material to ashes. In combat, a fire elemental lashes out with one of its ever-moving limbs, doing 3-24 points of damage. Any flammable object struck by the fire elemental must save versus magical fire at a -2 or immediately begin to burn. Fire elementals do have some limitations on their actions in the Prime Material plane. They are unable to cross water or non-flammable liquids. Often, a quick dive into a nearby lake or stream is the only thing that can save a powerful party from certain death from a fire elemental. Also, because their natural abilities give them some built-in resistance to flame-based attacks, creatures with innate fire-using abilities, like red dragons, take less damage from a fire elemental's attack. The elemental subtracts 1 point from each die of damage it does to these creature (to a minimum of 1 point of damage per die). Water Elemental Description Water elementals can be conjured in any area containing a large amount of water or watery liquid. At least one thousand cubic feet of liquid is required to create a shell for the water elemental to inhabit. Usually a large pool serves this purpose, but several large kegs of wine or ale will do just as well. The water elemental appears on the Prime Material Plane as a high-crested wave. The elemental's arms appear as smaller waves, one thrust out on each side of its main body. The arms ebb and flow, growing longer or shorter as the elemental moves. Two orbs of deep green peer out of the front of the wave and serve the elemental as eyes. Like all other common elementals, water elementals rarely speak on the Prime Material Plane, but their voices can be heard in the crashing of waves on rocky shores and the howl of an ocean gale. Combat In combat, the water elemental is a dangerous adversary. It prefers to fight in a large body of water where it can constantly disappear beneath the waves and suddenly swell up behind its opponent. When the elemental strikes, it lashes out with a huge wave-like arm, doing 5-30 points of damage. Water elementals are also a serious threat to ships that cross their paths. A water elemental can easily overturn small craft (one ton of ship per Hit Die of the elemental) and stop or slow almost any vessel (one ton of ship per hit point of the elemental). Ships not completely stopped by an elemental will be slowed by a percentage equal to the ratio of ship's tons over the hit points of the attacking elemental. Though the water elemental is most effective in large areas of open water, it can be called upon to serve in a battle on dry land, close to the body of water from which it arose. However, the movement of the water elemental on land is the most restricted of any elemental type: a water elemental cannot move more than 60 yards away from the water it was conjured from, and 1 point of damage is subtracted from each die of damage they inflict out of the water (to a minimum of 1 point of damage per die). References * TSR reference: TSR 2140 * ISBN: Category:Spelljammer creatures